The invention resides in the field of medical equipment and can be used advantageously in particular in operations on the human or animal body.
The invention relates in detail to a catheter device which has a catheter to be introduced and also additional elements which ensure optimised usability of the catheter device.
A catheter of this type can be introduced through an entry opening into a naturally occurring vessel of the body or a tube, for example a blood vessel or a ureter, in order to perform specific desired functions in a minimally invasive manner. At the end of the catheter a functional element which allows specific operations by remote control can be provided.
The problem often resides in bringing firstly the functional element by means of the catheter to the correct place in the body without damaging body regions en route beyond an acceptable extent. For this purpose, the functional element can be either covered or deformed during introduction such that the introduction is made possible without damage or at least made easier.
A number of catheter devices is already known from the state of the art.
An intracardial pump device with a catheter is known from the German patent specification DE 103 36 902 B3, which catheter carries a pump in its end region. This can basically have a larger diameter, to a limited degree, than the catheter but the pump must be introduced and removed surgically in the case of too large a diameter since it is basically invariable in diameter.
From the German patent specification DE 100 59 714 C1, a pump is known for introduction into a blood vessel of a body, the pump discharging at the distal end into a cannula, the diameter of which is variable. For example, the cannula is situated during introduction into the blood vessel in a compressed state which is assumed, as a function of the temperature, in a range of low temperatures. If the cannula is inserted into the body, then it heats to body temperature and thereby assumes a second, expanded shape because of the shape memory of the material thereof. The cannula can comprise for this purpose for example Nitinol, a known material with shape memory properties. Any possibilities of transferring a cannula widened in this manner again into the compressed state in order to be able to withdraw the pump and the catheter without surgical intervention are not referred to in the mentioned document.
A catheter device with a pump is known from WO 94/05347, in which a pump housing and possibly also the pump blades can be radially deployed by relative longitudinal displacement of a drive shaft relative to a sleeve directly surrounding the latter.